Archive for the ‘Charity’ Category

Beck played on a (semi-)public stage last night, for the first time since March 2009. (!)

It was a charity gig for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, tickets cost minimum $5000, and he shared the stage with Devendra Banhart and Caetano Veloso. Also the ‘band’ was Beck’s bassist, Bram Inscore, 3 violinists, and a cellist. I have no idea what they performed, but the LA Times says this: “all three performed together in a multilayered piece.”

Some of the pictures I’ve seen of the event seem to indicate that Beck & Devendra and the string section played first, and then Caetano joined them at some point. If any of you famous celebrities (Rose McGowan, hi) were there and want to email me about what went down, feel free: almostaghost@gmail.com

If I hear anything, I’ll update here too.

UPDATE: The LA Times had a fuller report of the evening (and Beck.com wrote it up too). Apparently, they played 4 songs. Initially, Devendra sang his song “At The Hop,” I’m not entirely clear if Beck was involved there (Beck.com seems to say he was, but LA Times seems to say it was just Devendra). After that, Beck and Devendra and the string section did “The Golden Age,” a video clip of which is in the comments below. Next, Caetano Veloso joined them and did his songs “Nine Out Of Ten” and “Maria Bethania.” Afterwards, there was a performance art piece by Doug Aitken called “WE” and Beck apparently participated in that somehow. The piece included drummers, auctioneers, and a guy with a whip.

Beck is playing a benefit show at The Echo on March 11, benefitting Educating Children International. I assume it is also to warm-up for the upcoming Japanese tour. Tickets at ticketweb.com if you’re in the Los Angeles area.

Elliott Smith, the troubadour behind haunting acoustic compositions such as “Needle in the Hay” whose life came to an untimely end in 2003, will be memorialized with Elliott Smith, a 200-plus-page photo book compiled by renowned photographer Autumn de Wilde, the same lady behind the lens of the cover shot from the singer/songwriter’s 2000 album Figure 8. The book, also containing Smith’s handwritten lyrics and interviews from Ashley Welch, Smith’s sister, Beck, Ben Gibbard, Chris Walla (Death Cab), and Matthew Caws (Nada Surf), among others, will arrive in November courtesy of Chronicle Books, alongside a five song CD of previously unreleased live material. The project’s proceeds will be donated to the SIMS Foundation to supply affordable mental health care to musicians, and Outside In, a Portland, OR-based homeless youth non-profit group…

De Wilde then recorded chats with the likes of Beck and Walla — whose discussion on being photographed will become the book’s forward — Caws, and Welch, as well as Mark Flanagan, owner of L.A.’s Largo Club, Neil Gust (Heatmiser), Sam Coomes (Quasi/Heatmiser), producers Rob Schnapf and Jon Brion, and Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), the latter an individual who had never known Smith, but divulged the late musician’s deep influence unto his music.

Autumn De Wilde has worked with Beck on a number of occasions, I believe. I seem to remember her taking a whole bunch of photos for him and his albums. Anybody know which ones?

The NME is reporting that Beck will be included on a new charity compilation due out in May. His contribution will be Black Tambourine.

Kaiser Chiefs, Weezer and Beck are among the artists to feature on a brand new compilation CD put together by Lily Allen collaborator Mark Ronson.

Wolfmother, Ryan Adams and Scissors Sisters are also included on the CD, which is the first of a series of compilations put together by Ronson for Hard Rock Hotels.

The album which is released in May will also donate a dollar from each sale to the Water For Life charity an initiative from artist Jay-Z with the mission to bring clean drinking water throughout sub-Saharan Africa.